I've been a fan of the Astra SPs ( Green Pack ) for quite a while. When the Super Iridiums disappeared a while back the Astras jumped to my top 3 or 4 'in production' blades. While they aren't as good to me as NOS Iridiums or Polsilvers, and probably not quite as good ( to me ) as Gillete Blue Plats, or Blue Label Personna's ... they are right there hard behind them.

Anyway, I finally got a chance to use the Astra Stainless ( in the blue label packs ), and I was very pleased with the result. I'd played around last week with a ( new to me ) Shark Stainless and was fairly unimpressed. The Shark provided a close shave with no bites, but was ever so rough on my face. I was half way expecting the same performance from the Blue Astra, but that was not the case. The Astra Stainless was really quite comfortable on my face from even the first stroke.

I'm going to finish out a few more of these blades to get an idea of their lifespan, but at the moment I can see ordering 100 of these fellows to join their Green cousins.

The Superior Stainless, are a go to blade for me. They are sharp and smooth. So far the only thing that has been any smoother was the SI, that I was able to try in a traveling razor box.

(04-06-2012, 06:36 AM)GeneAut Wrote: Do you find they have decent longevity ? I typically get at least 4 great shaves from the Greens.

I get two smooth and easy face and head shaves, and on the third day I have to put in an extra pass on the thick parts of the back of my head. This is one of my longer lasting blades. I usually go three days on these blades. If I am in a hurry on the third day for a blade I usually just change for a new one. It would be my guess that for some the blade could last a week with face shaves.

I would also add that the Astra Stainless seems to work well with all my razors. I get smooth shaves in the Old Type(which is very picky for me), New, Slim, Slant and Futur. I still have a bunch of packs to finish up of other blades, but when it comes time to bulk order a couple I like, this is one of them.

I like them a lot too. I find them different than the greens. They work very well for me in Merkur, EJ, and NEW. I don't like them in Gillette TTO. I use Astras for about 5 2-pass + touch-ups shaves. The SS start a little smoother than the greens but not that sharp. After testing about 25 brands in six months, I can't distinguish the Astra SS from the discontinued Gillette Platinum (white wrapper with blue borders, 'Gillette' written in blue and 'Platinum' in silver).

I use them,and they are my fav of all : sharp and smooth,theyre brilliant for the type of beard/skin that I have.Also they are cheaper than some Gillette made in St Petersburg but with the same quality.